Our Story

Dallas Animal Welfare Group, or The DAWG Project,was founded in 2016 by a group of friends in response to the loose and stray dog crisis in southern Dallas.

A generations-old problem, the issue was brought into sharp relief by the death of Antoinette Brown, a homeless US Army veteran who was mauled to death by six loose dogs after walking into a vacant lot in May of that year. A subsequent census estimated 7,000 - 9,000 loose or stray dogs in southern Dallas. The count on the same day in North Dallas? One.

The city of Dallas began sweeps to pick up loose dogs – for their safety and for the safety of the citizens of southern Dallas. As the shelter began to fill, dogs were euthanized for space. This is a hard reality in municipal shelters.

DAWG was founded to provide a positive outcome for Dallas shelter dogs and to fill the gaps in animal rescue to move the city of Dallas toward becoming a no-kill community.

The mission of The DAWG Project is to save the lives of Dallas dogs through collaboration with the city, the shelter and the community, and to facilitate the movement of Dallas toward becoming a no-kill city.